EuroBioC2024 brought the Bioconductor community together at the historic University of Oxford in the UK. With 110 attendees, the conference offered a valuable opportunity to share knowledge and explore the latest developments in bioinformatics. This year’s event was particularly notable as our first conference in Oxford, underscoring the growing reach of our community across Europe.
Pre-Conference
In the days before the main event, EuroBioC2024 hosted two Carpentries workshops focused on Introduction to R and RNA-seq. These sessions, attended by [TODO] participants, offered practical training and helped prepare attendees for the discussions that followed during the conference. The Introduction to genomic data analysis with R and Bioconductor workshop was taught by Oliver Crook, Marcel Ramos, and Laurent Gatto. The Analysis and Interpretation of Bulk RNA-Seq Data using Bioconductor. Oliver, Fabricio, Robert, and Marcel are instructors trained through our Bioconductor Carpentries training program, while Laurent is co-chair of the Bioconductor Education and Training group. These hands-on workshops provided in-depth training in R, Bioconductor, and RNA-seq data analysis, equipping attendees with valuable skills. The workshops laid a strong foundation for those who continued into the main conference, helping to prepare them for the in-depth discussions and learning that followed.
EuroBioC2024 Bioconductor Carpentries instructors
Program Overview
The EuroBioC2024 conference delivered a diverse program, with presentations, workshops, and discussions highlighting the latest advancements in bioinformatics and computational biology. Explore the full schedule here.
Here’s a map showing where our presenters are from, adding to the attendee map above to illustrate the global reach of our Bioconductor community. Hover over the points to see details about each presenter, including their name, affiliation, and talk title.
Keynotes
The keynote sessions at EuroBioC2024 offered attendees valuable insights into current research and the future of bioinformatics, serving as key highlights throughout the conference:
Altuna Akalin, Group Leader at the Berlin Institute for Medical Systems Biology, Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine presented “How AI will reshape life sciences research: Examples from the front lines”
Laura Symul, Junior Professor at Stanford (USA) / UCLouvain (Belgium) presented ” Multi-omics integration reveals host-microbiota interactions in the vaginal ecosystem.”
Florian Markowetz, Professor at the University of Cambridge presented “All models are wrong and yours are useless”.
Agne Antanaviciute, Junior Group Leader at the University of Oxford, presented “In situ insights into intestinal interactions”.
Virginie Uhlmann, Director of BioVisionCenter, presented “Towards FAIR and scalable bioimage analysis workflows using OME-Zarr”.
Package demos
Attendees were also treated to a series of 45-minute package demos, where they got hands-on experience with the latest tools and software innovations in the field of bioinformatics on topics such as [TODO]. These demos provided practical insights into the latest software developments in the field.
Short Talks
The conference also showcased a diverse array of short talks, where researchers presented on various themes, including [TODO], highlighting the breadth and depth of current bioinformatics research.
Birds of a Feather sessions
There were [TODO] x Birds of a Feather (BoF) sessions that focused on collaborative topics like [TODO], fostering open discussions and idea sharing among participants.
Infrastructure & Tools
Workshop Infrastructure
An important part of EuroBioC2024 was the package demos. Presenters had the option to let participants follow along by running the code on the Bioconductor Galaxy cloud platform, set up by Alex Mahmoud from the Bioconductor Core Team.
EuroBioC2024 Slack
Building on the success of the BioC2024 Slack, we launched a dedicated EuroBioC2024 Slack workspace. This digital space quickly became a central hub for real-time discussions, with channels covering aspects of the conference, such as:
- #general: Conference-wide announcements and discussions.
- #travel-buddies: Coordination of travel plans, like sharing rides from the airport.
- #local-tips: Recommendations for places to eat, visit, or explore in Oxford.
- #introductions: A space for attendees to introduce themselves and get to know each other.
- #help-desk: For any questions or assistance needed during the conference.
- #feedback: To gather suggestions and impressions in real-time.
The Slack space was well-received, with [TODO] x messages exchanged, showing how much attendees valued this mode of communication.
For long-term communication and to share information or ask questions about the Bioconductor European conference throughout the year, join the dedicated #eurobioc-conference-everyone channel in the permanent Bioconductor Slack workspace.
Community Recognition
Athena Award
At EuroBioC2024, we took the opportunity to present the Bioconductor Athena Award in person to Bea’s mother, who lives in Spain. This award honors Bea’s significant contributions to the Bioconductor community and her enduring legacy. While the main awards ceremony, including the recognition of other community members, took place at BioC2024 in Grand Rapids in July, you can learn more about all the award winners by visiting the Bioconductor awards page or reading the BioC2024 blog post.
Certificate for the 2024 Bioconductor Athena Award
Scholarships
The Bioconductor community values inclusivity and diversity. In line with this commitment, the EuroBioC2024 committee awarded scholarships to [TODO] in-person attendees, helping those who might face financial barriers to join and participate in the conference.
Sticker contest winner
The EuroBioC2024 sticker was eagerly anticipated by the community, and this year’s design did not disappoint. This year’s sticker, designed by Thomas Klammsteiner from the Leopold-Franzens Universität Innsbruck, Austria, beautifully blends iconic Oxford imagery with elements of genomic science, making it a memorable keepsake from the event.
Learn more about Thomas and his winning design in our LinkedIn announcement.
Conference Materials
Videos
To make the knowledge shared at EuroBioC2024 widely accessible, recordings of talks, workshops, and demos will be available on Bioconductor YouTube roughly a month after the event. Be sure to check out the EuroBioC2024 playlist to revisit key sessions or catch up on anything you missed.
Workshops
Workshop materials from EuroBioC2024 package demos will be accessible via the conference website and interactively through workshop.bioconductor.org in the ‘Archived’ section, allowing the hands-on learning to continue well after the event.
Slides
Presenters are invited to share their slides and materials through the Zenodo Bioconductor community. This helps extend the reach of their work and enables others in the field to cite and reference their contributions. See an example here.
Attendee Experience
TODO: Include a testimonial if there’s an attendee who is willing to offer one.
Upcoming Conferences
If you missed EuroBioC2024, there are plenty of other opportunities to connect with the Bioconductor community at our upcoming conferences.
Stay tuned for updates and announcements by following Bioconductor’s LinkedIn, Mastodon accounts. For ongoing discussions and information about future Bioconductor conferences, join the permanent Bioconductor Slack workspace at slack.bioconductor.org.
- BioC Asia 2024
November 7-8 in Sydney, Australia. Website: https://biocasia2024.bioconductor.org/
- GBCC 2025
June 23-26 in New York, USA. Stay tuned for more details! [TODO link to announcement]
Acknowledgments
Sponsors
EuroBioC2024 are extremely grateful to those that sponsored EuroBioC2024. EuroBioC2024’s platinum sponsors were 10X Genomics and GSK, gold sponsor was BigOmics, patronage sponsor was ELIXIR and other sponsor was R consortium. Their support was greatly appreciated by the Bioconductor community.
Hosts
Organizing Committee
Local Hosts and Organizers:
- Oliver Crook, University of Oxford, UK
- Kevin Rue-Albrecht, University of Oxford, UK
Others:
- Charlotte Soneson, Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, Switzerland
- Dario Righelli, University of Naples “Federico II”, Italy
- Davide Risso, University of Padua, Italy
- E. Ravza Gur, University of Oxford, UK
- Helena L. Crowell, Centro Nacional de Análisis Genómico, Spain
- James Dalgleish, University of Oxford, UK
- Johannes Rainer, Eurac Research, Italy
- Laurent Gatto, Université catholique de Louvain, Belgium
- Lena Morrill Gavarro, University of Oxford, UK
- Leo Lahti, University of Turku, Finland
- Lieven Clement, Ghent University, Belgium
- Maria Doyle, University of Limerick, Ireland
- Michael Stadler, Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, Switzerland
- Robert Castelo, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Spain
- Robert Ivanek, University of Basel, Switzerland
- Simone Bell, EMBL, Germany
- Wolfgang Huber, EMBL, Germany
© 2024 Bioconductor. Content is published under Creative Commons CC-BY-4.0 License for the text and BSD 3-Clause License for any code. | R-Bloggers
Social & Networking
EuroBioC2024 included opportunities to interact with the Bioconductor community. Both organised events and informal gatherings helped participants connect and establish meaningful relationships.
Conference Dinner
Held at St Anne’s College
TODO
Walking Tour
The conference social activities included a walking tour of Oxford, led by local host and organizer Oliver Crook. This tour offered a unique opportunity for attendees to explore the city and get to know each other in a relaxed setting.
Slack Conversations
The EuroBioC2024 Slack workspace was an essential tool for attendee interactions, helping coordinate logistics, exchange local tips, and facilitate introductions. It became a go-to platform for fostering connections and collaboration during the event.
Memorable Moments
TODO